Strategies to get students to effectively use their notes.
Scaffolded study guide - (grade 7- when scaffolding is needed)
Prepare a study guide with number of questions focussed on key concepts from a unit. Next to each question tell them where they can find the answer. It could be the dater of a lecture, the heading of a hand out, the name of an activity, or even page numbers or a section of the book. This gives them all of the scaffolding they need to find the answers on their own. It is a lot of scaffolding, but some lower level students could greatly benefit from the added help. Over time you can remove the hints about where to find the information as students learn to do so on thier own. Eventually you may concider not giving a study guide or moving to the "make your own study guide".
Make your own study guide - (grades 9-10)
Have students make their own study guides. Have this due the day before the test and distribute one of your own on that day. Give students a moment to compare the new study guide to their own, so they can use this time to make clear anything they don't understand about it. The next day if someone says they were confused, you gave them the opportunity to ask you a question. Over time students will begin to pick up what is most important from the notes by comparing what they came up with with what you wanted them to find. This is also a good way to get students used to surviving without a study guide as they are less and less likely to get them as they progress through school. This could be graded or you could simply give a bonus point or two for an excellent paper, the majority of the benefit is in the student making the study guide.
Picture ID sheets - (Grade 9 +)
Fill the left side of a sheet with identifiable pictures from students book and notes. Next to each question (in a narrow center column of the sheet) ask key questions like who? what? why? when? Where?. Have the students answer the questions in the space on the right. For example, on the left could be a picture of Michale Faraday. Next to him write Who? What? When? This will cue students to write who he is, what he did, and when he did it in the space provided. Students can later fold this sheet in half and quiz them self with this graphic organizer. This is a method that visual learners who might not do well with a traditional flash card with just a word on it.
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